


Promised Blue

by BBirdy



Series: Torrential Blue [2]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alpha Sokka (Avatar), Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alpha/Omega, Angst, Bisexual Sokka (Avatar), Emotional Baggage, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Forbidden Love, Hurt Zuko (Avatar), Idiots in Love, Iroh (Avatar) is a Good Uncle, M/M, Masks, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Mentioned Ozai (Avatar), Mutual Pining, Non-Explicit Sex, Omega Zuko (Avatar), Ozai (Avatar) Being a Terrible Parent, Past Child Abuse, Protective Iroh (Avatar), Ursa (Avatar) is a Good Parent, Zuko's Scar (Avatar), hidden identity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-26
Updated: 2020-11-26
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:14:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,028
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27727316
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BBirdy/pseuds/BBirdy
Summary: The hesitation wasn't necessary.Zuko had nothing to compare it to.Shoulders shaking Zuko had to move forward, gloved hand around Sokka's back. When the arms wound around Zuko it took all his strength to keep from crumpling, dropping his head against his shoulders, still wound tight.Zuko couldn't keep in the soft sigh.
Relationships: Sokka/Zuko (Avatar)
Series: Torrential Blue [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2028164
Comments: 16
Kudos: 319





	Promised Blue

Turning over in his sleep Sokka pulled his sleeping bag tighter around him, shivering. No, that wasn't his bag. There was no soft pressure of furs. It was thinner. Squinting blearily, Sokka found his hands curled around his discarded shirt. What laid over him was a woven array of plant life. 

"Where-?" Sokka's voice died. Bolting upright he spun his head around, hair falling in his eyes. The tie must have fallen out. Besides the miscellaneous assortment of reeds over top him, he wore nothing. 

Blushing furiously Sokka got up slowly, grabbing his tunic. It hung loosely around him. His pants, shoes, and all undergarments were strewn around him. He only just saw them in the burgeoning dawn. 

"Blue?" Sokka hissed quietly. 

His only answer was the wispy morning wind, silent willow branches waving across grass. 

What time had he gone? 

Had his heat ended?

"It must have," Sokka cleared his throat, trying to lift his suddenly dropping spirits. His own rut seemed to have been satisfied. The shortest of his lifetime. Though he'd never had a partner before. Had Blue? "He wouldn't have been able to leave unless…"

But that could also have been a mislead. Gran-Gran had always told them once you shared a heat or rut with someone you were tied to them. "Even when it ends you will feel that draw. But while you are with your mate during your season you will find it painful to leave their side. Alpha's need somewhere to project their care and attention. If they do not they may become violent or irrational. Omega's need someone to care for them. To leave your alpha's side during a heat would be akin to trying to ask your heart to stop beating."

"Could she have been wrong about that too?" Sokka knelt in the tree nook, fingers trembling as they picked at his belt. 

Only hours before it had been tied tight around his eyes as he-

"Stop that," Sokka ordered himself out loud, pushing himself upright once more. "You knew this wasn't going to be a full-time thing. They wouldn't even tell you their name, or let you see their face. One night. That's all you got. Be grateful for it."

Still, he couldn't help but wince. Now he really sounded like his grandmother. 

Fingering the belt between his knuckles Sokka held it to his nose. The early morning dew had wiped away any smell of pheromones or anything else they could have left. eyes pressed tight Sokka clung to the memory of Blue's scent. 

It might have only been longing but he swore he could still pick it out of the cold air. 

Letting out a long deep sigh Sokka tied it around his waist, brushing himself off. He had to get back before Katara woke up or he'd never hear the end of it. 

Turning on his heel Sokka only glanced back once before he walked through the curtain of willow branches. 

* * *

Running, sprinting at full tilt the shadow hidden figure of the blue spirit scrambled through the trees. 

"What were you thinking?" he snarled at himself. He did indeed have a voice, no matter how much he had protested the night before. 

The tie at the back of his head was haphazard. Each step took him further from the willow tree. The heat underneath the skin tight uniform still radiated, insistently demanding he turn back around. 

Breath catching in his chest, his knees buckled. 

Left panting on hands and knees he crawled to the nearest tree trunk, gripping the rough bark. 

"Slow down," he closed his eyes, forcing himself to take deep breaths. Air filtered through the black fabric and he ripped it off, tossing the mask at his feet. 

Zuko's loose ponytail fell into his eyes. Four days now. He'd been in heat for four days. And having a partner, having someone at his side had finally brought it to the start of his close. 

"Why didn't I stay?" he sunk to the ground, crossing his arms right over his chest. "Why-"

 _You know why,_ his mind snapped back firmly. 

Zuko dug the base of his palms into his eyes. 

"Why did it have to be _him_?" he snarled, hands turned to fists. 

_You know why._

* * *

Grabbing the mask had been something he needed to do. There wasn't a chance he could be recognized off his ship. And with all the crewmates so close by… it didn't bear thinking about. So Zuko had taken the mask. Three years off sneaking off the ship, dealing with crescendoing heats by any means necessary. 

"It's not like the school books," Zuko had complained once, to no one in particular, hidden away in whatever tucked nook he could find. It was nicer in the woods than it was anywhere else. 

He's always imagined having his first proper heat aided by attendants in the palace, being doted on by anyone and everyone he ran into. 

"Heats aren't anything to be ashamed of," his mother had promised when he'd presented. "They are a natural lovely-"

"But Firelords aren't omega's!" The twelve-year-old Zuko had sobbed into her shoulder, fighting off the burning below his skin. "They're always good alphas. I can't be-"

"Don't you talk like that," Ursa had pulled up the boy's flushed face, kissing his fever-ridden forehead. "You are strong, no matter how you present. There have been many- er several firelords who were perfectly respectable betas."

Zuko sobbed louder, a wave of fire-eating into his skin. "Azula says those firelords were wimps who never did anything good for their nation. She says father will give _her_ the throne because she presented right."

Ursa pursed her lips tighter. "Your sister has always had an active imagination." She gathered the cool cloth, pressing it against the back of his neck. "Don't listen to her. Nothing about you but your head and your heart will make you a good leader. Remember that."

He sniffed loudly, curled up, chin on his knees. "I don't like it," he whined, wiping the pouring sweat out of his eyes. "I feel like I'm melting from the inside."

"It won't always be like this," she soothed. "When you're older we can find a heat partner for you. You'll see. They can be lovely experiences. Besides, your first is always hard. It will get better."

* * *

"It will get better," Zuko had taken those words as a mantra. they were his best hope, though it felt like grasping to straw as it burned. 

But it hadn't, not really. 

That was the only heat he'd ever gone through at home. His mother had vanished only days after, while he was still recovering in bed. 

He'd gone to the council, driven by her promise of being a good leader, he'd begged to go to the war council. 

And the fire melted into his face drove out any idea of his heats being the worst warmth could bring him. 

Iroh had told him once he'd gone through heat while he was in recovery. But with the burning in his face, any leftover in his body seemed negligent. 

"I'll just go out for the night," Zuko had slapped off Iroh's hand, dressed in his full black, half his face still bandaged, mask in hand. He could feel the impending heat. "I'll be back by morning, the crew won't notice."

And that had been the first time. 

That one had lasted three days. It wasn't better. 

By the time he returned the whole crew knew what had happened. 

"It will get better," Zuko ground through grit teeth, dropping into bed after that first heat alone, spent in the woods. 

It didn't. 

Years spent sneaking out, every few months. He'd been told in school once that heats would eventually come on a schedule, that he'd be able to chart the heats to within the day. 

That never happened either. 

They came in varying degrees of misery. After the first year, he overheard the earth kingdom rumors. 

"Uncle," Zuko had asked, peering over the edge of the ship at the gathered group of masked young women. "How do earth kingdom peasants deal with being alone?"

Alarmed by the phrasing Iroh had sat him down, talked with him as seriously as the old fool could manage. "You do not have to be alone my nephew, surely you know this by now?"

His blank look betrayed his ignorance. 

"Poor boy," he shook his head gravely. 

Sparks flew from clenched fists. "Do not patronize me, uncle. Tell me about the earth kingdom, about the other nations. How do their teachings differ?"

Face felt a momentary Iroh tugged at his chin. "I take it all you were taught in the palace was how your needs would be cared for, and nothing of the citizens of your kingdom."

Zuko nodded once, swallowing any guilt for his lack of knowledge. Why would he care how others would deal with it if he'd been properly cared for?

Iroh continued to spin the end of the graying beard in his finger. "Fire nation citizens those not of houses with disposable income to spend on companions will take comfort with friends. While intercourse during heats or ruts is often discouraged, as is caring for one of the same gender-" 

A black pit reopened in Zuko's chest. That was something he would _not_ be admitting. 

"Having a platonic companion for those not mated is very common. Even family is permitted to comfort. This is never seen as sexual, those who take advantage of others' vulnerability as harshly punished."

Zuko absently rubbed at the base of his cheek. 

Iroh settled in his seat. "When on my first posting I learned that the earth kingdom, being largely agricultural, cannot have the fire nations regulations. So they will pay for a companion of their preferred gender or age group to spend time with them. Or they will have a friend come with them. I have often heard the phrase of freely given love, used often, though I think it is poorly named. I prefer to think of it as an understanding of love needed. Though," his laugh was boisterous, "I highly doubt it will catch on. Doesn't roll off the tongue as well."

Zuko didn't smile. 

"Yes," Iroh cleared his throat. "Well. The water tribes, while I haven't visited them, have a far more traditional look on it all. They find any form of companionship outside of marriage or traditional mates as a shame. They deal with them on their own. This may track with their habit of marrying at very young ages," he nodded thoughtfully. 

"What about airbenders?" Zuko asked before he could stop himself. 

Iroh's face fell. "I couldn't say. Much of their documentation was lost in the first fights."

* * *

Zuko took it all in stride. He could ask for someone to be with him. It didn't have to be anything serious, just someone to stay at his side. 

But, money in hand and determination wavering, Zuko hadn't made it within ten feet of the group of girls before he'd turned on his heel and run away. 

He didn't want a girl anyway. 

"It will get better," he growled to himself, settling into the roots of the swaying willow. It was less of a mantra now, more of a desperate plea. 

Then it did. 

Walking back to the willow, his unsatisfying meal of berries and nuts fighting in his gut, he'd collided with someone. 

Why hadn't he just run away the second that familiar face had fallen into the moonlight? Why hadn't he been able to resist the siren call of misplaced hormones? He tried. 

Then the yell after him froze him in place. "Wait!"

Zuko wanted to scream, shout, demand he run away and leave. But he couldn't. Not only could he be recognized, but the longing underneath his skin wanted him to pounce. This was so far beyond instincts. This was bone-deep; predatory. 

The water tribe peasant, Soju… Sake… Sokka? Sokka sounded right. Sokka was still talking, growing nearer. Could he feel the tie winding them ever closer? 

Breath picking up Zuko slammed his eyes shut. If he couldn't see the boy his needs would vanish. But he could still hear the distant voice. Words didn't matter, only that they were directed at him. Nerve endings wrenching, screaming to reach out toward this warm body. And the smell… his knees were too weak to hold him up and he clung to the tree like a lifeline. 

"Are you a spirit?" 

The words came with alarming clarity. 

Zuko actually smiled. Of course, his mask. He was safe, a faceless, nameless creature lost just like him. He shook his head. 

"Who are you?"

No. No. Not something he could answer, not something his tongue, still stuck to the roof of his mouth could have summoned a lie for. He could only shake his head. 

The distance was only a few inches. 

Collecting the sob of desperation welling in him Zuko laid a gloved hand across his. He just wanted to fall into his arms, to curl up until the aching _loneliness_ was pushed out. Why couldn't he tear his gaze away?

Had the peasant always been so breathtaking? It wasn't possible he could only see it all so clearly now. 

"You really shouldn't." The thoughts echoed from Sokka's mouth. "You should probably let go."

Real tears gathered now, the words cracking through his heat-damaged frame like the crack of a whip. He couldn't expect him to leave, not now. 

Zuko _needed_ him. Why couldn't he see it, feel it? 

Knowing he would despise every weakness once he could think once more Zuko ripped off the glove. The cool night air might as well have been ice water against his skin. 

Taking his wrist once more Zuko silently begged him to understand, to stay. 

"You're in heat."

Relief waved through him, making his knees tremble. 

"I don't have any money to spend the night with you."

The idea was so ridiculous Zuko had to stop his incredulous laughter. Earth kingdom culture was still so foreign to him. He was shaking his head.

"You don't want to be paid?"

Desperation was blooming once again, putting pressure in his chest. Why was he still talking?

"But you do want to spend the night with me?" 

Zuko was nodding. 

He didn't have enough presence of mind to stop himself, like someone else was in the driver's seat of his own mind. But he had enough sense to question himself, telling off his wild instincts like one would discipline a child. 

This was the water tribe peasant traveling with the avatar. He could be using him to get to the avatar. This was the perfect opportunity to break into their camp, to steal the child away. It would be so easy. In his heat addled state Sokka would trust him implicitly. 

Begging his trembling to obey he wound his fingers through his. The touch against bare skin was too much. It broke down any wall, any plan he could have summoned. 

Plans took a backseat to Zuko's own body. 

Fire igniting under his skin he felt Sokka's thumb brushing over his skin, leaving behind a trail of pure flame. 

"I've never done this before," Sokka's smile was thin. "I don't think I'll be very good."

Never done what? Comforted an omega in heat? Of course, the water tribe believed in full celibacy until marriage. 

It didn't matter. Zuko just needed someone else to be in control. 

The only reason Sokka wasn't scooping him up now must have been their position in the open. Instinct would cover the rest. Wouldn't it?

The hesitation wasn't necessary. Zuko had nothing to compare it to. Shoulders shaking Zuko had to move forward, gloved hand around Sokka's back. When the arms wound around Zuko it took all his strength to keep from crumpling, dropping his head against his shoulders, still wound tight. 

Zuko couldn't keep in the soft sigh. 

"We should get out of the open," Sokka's words brought back a fragment of his tattered mind. 

Launched to any semblance of reality Zuko tore himself away, pulling at their still latched hands. 

"Where are we-?" 

Finger to the drawn mouth of his mask, Zuko delved deeper into the foliage of the woods around them. 

The old breeze passed by, moving quickly, cooling the gathering sweat, cutting through the few cracks in his masks and the threads of his clothing. Still his skin pulsed with warmth. Frayed nerves begged him to stop, to fall into the waiting arms of the one he pulled behind him. Just being near an alpha was driving him to utter distraction.

Ducking into the willow tree he'd chosen days previous, Zuko's frantic heart eased. Nest of fallen leaves and warped wood as it was, it was a place he felt safe. 

Now there was someone there for him. 

As if responding to his sudden calm, Sokka pulled him closer. 

Zuko couldn't suppress the _keening_ caught in his throat. 

"How long have you been in heat?" The whisper was in his ear. 

He could only hold up his shaking fingers. 

* * *

Three days previous Iroh stood on the deck of the ship, sipping tea in the soft breeze, smelling the faintest hints of spring on the horizon.   
Bag slung over his shoulder Zuko froze in place. 

"Uncle," he stuttered. "Why are you up so late?"

"I could ask you the same thing," Iroh finished his cup, swirling the dregs slowly, seeping the last of the warmth from the cooling clay cup. 

Zuko shifted from foot to foot. 

"I see," Iroh nodded sagely. "How long will you be gone?"

Face downcast Zuko pursed his lips. "I don't know. A while."

"And the excuse for the crew?"

"Like they couldn't figure it out?" Zuko snapped. 

Iroh lifted a bushy eyebrow.

"Tell them whatever you want," Zuko was quavering now, a burning fire creeping up his spine. He needed to get away. 

"Have you thought over your course of action?"

His mind felt fuzzy. "Course of… what?"

Iroh pulled his nephew to the deck, placing a cup in his hand. "You are reaching a very important time in your life cycle my son. Your instincts and heat are turning from those of companionship to mating. You should take some money and find a beta or other omega to spend your heat with."

"Uncle," Zuko's confused mind spun on a tilt. "I couldn't, not with a commoner from another nation. They would recognize me."

"Take that ingenious mask of yours," Iroh insisted. "And do be careful not to contract an alpha."

"Why?" Zuko sipped the tea absently. The steaming water felt cold on his lips. He was running out of time. He'd put off his escape into the night too long. Preheat was quickly giving way, leaving the world around him unsteady and distant. 

Iroh chuckled low in his chest. "I do not think you are ready for the kind of connection made, the imprint left, by an unmated omega on his alpha."

* * *

Zuko understood now. 

Settled between the roots, Sokka asking him concerned questions and holding him in his arms had Zuko so dizzy he never wanted to lift his head from the sound of his alpha's frantic heartbeat. 

His Alpha? 

The idea settled, like an anchor in soft silt, stuck fast. 

_His_ Alpha. 

Sokka's hand cradled his chin. The tips of his fingers brushed the strap of the mask. 

Frantically Zuko tried to pull away, the separation of those few inches like ripping skin from bone. 

"What is it? What's wrong?"

Zuko held the mask to the concaves of his mask. It was his shield. Sokka couldn't know the truth, he couldn't. If he did then he would leave… and there wasn't a chance he'd be able to survive that. 

"Oh," his whisper cut into Zuko. "I won't take off the mask if you don't want me to."

Relief. 

"But…"

He tensed once more. 

"But I want to be closer."

Zuko successfully bit off the whimper this time. 

"What's your name?"

What answer could he have given?

Sokka's hands were so gentle. 

More questions, more answers Zuko couldn't- wouldn't give. It hurt to deprive him, to have something so useless between them. Zuko knew he'd pull out his soul and hand it over if Sokka would only ask. But his name? Too much. 

Sensing his pain Sokka shifted. 

Before Zuko knew what was happening he was lying on his back, Sokka's shirt fell to the dirt feet away. 

The desperate cry caught in his chest. 

"If I can't know your name can I call you Blue?"

Zuko couldn't help but laugh, only just managing to keep himself silent. An apt name, as much as any that could be given. But more than that it gave Sokka something to hold onto, something he could latch onto. 

"I, I'd really like to kiss you, Blue," Sokka whispered into his ear. 

Everything in his chest froze, blood-freezing for less than a millisecond only to be melted to liquid by the heat in his veins. He wanted to agree, to beg for the new contact. 

Zuko knew he'd been truly lost to his heat now. 

Taking his moment of growing lust as hesitation Sokka continued. "I won't look," he promised. Searching frantically he brought up his discarded belt. "I can use this. You can even tie it."

Zuko didn't want to dislodge the knees pinned on either side of his heaving chest. The thought of having a kiss from his alpha, no matter how false, gave him enough sane action to move. 

Knelt atop him, carefully tying the band around his eyes, Sokka's hands wandered up to Zuko's chest, tracing the outline of every heaving muscle, finding his collarbone, and brushing a nail over it. 

Each millimeter traced left Zuko trembling, so close to succumbing to animalistic instinct. He tossed his own shirt away after only a moment. 

"You're okay," Sokka breathed, their hands linking together, fitting as if they had been made for the other. 

He continued to run soft hands over the now exposed skin. 

The hands pressed to either side of his head, holding the masked chin in those strong palms, fingers brushing the edge of the fabric that held it to his face. 

It was too much. Zuko knew he would vibrate out of his own skin. The high pitched cry caught in his throat grew, breathing picked to a frantic pace, as if he'd run miles. 

"Relax," Sokka ordered him, for it had to be an order. "You're okay."

Falling limp, a slave to every word uttered Blue caught Sokka's wrist, trying to press every desperate plea into the hold. 

Zuko's mask was taken away. Air hit his face, the sweat beaded in his hairline dripping down his temples. 

He couldn't help but stop Sokka's hands. There was still terror, lying in wait below every other overwhelming emotion. He _couldn't_ feel the scar. 

If Sokka left now Zuko would never recover. 

"Can I ask you something?" Sokka asked. 

Too late. Zuko lamented silently. Too late. He'd already felt the accursed scar. 

"I want to… can I kiss you?"

Yes. Zuko's subconscious wanted him to kiss the boy, to never stop, to succumb to every latent instinct lit from a spark to a lightning strike. 

He managed a shaky nod. 

And he was lost. 

There were more words, more permissions asked that never needed to be. Zuko belonged to his alpha, bone, and blood thrumming to every whisper Sokka could speak. 

The kiss melted away the last of Zuko's thoughts. He was putty. And he wanted every moment of it. 

At some point he was aware he'd been stripped down, egging Sokka onward. Would he regret this? The idea of regretting everything his body begged for seemed incredulous. 

Was this how it always was?

He would have thought it would be like this with an alpha in rut. Perhaps he was simply too far gone to know. Maybe it _was_ different with an alpha fully in his own rut. 

Zuko was sure he would never know. But nothing could be as perfect as his night of Blue. 

**Author's Note:**

> Yay a sequel, only a month later. I swear I didn't want it to take that long. then HotPocketsAreLife gave me wonderful inspiration. Big thank you to them and to anyone else who left wonderful comments! There will be two or three more parts. 
> 
> I love to reply to any and all comments and requests for scenes and moments will be adored! Thank you all!


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